Gaza under mandate of Palestinian consensus government: Official

A senior official of the Islamic Hamas movement has said the Gaza Strip is now under the mandate of the Palestinian consensus government of Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah.

Khalil al-Hayyah said in an interview aired on Saturday night by the official Gaza-based Hamas-run al-Aqsa Satellite TV that "we cannot move back after all ministries and corporations in Gaza had been handed over to the government", Xinhua reported.

Al-Hayyah has just come back from Egypt after Hamas signed an Egyptian-brokered reconciliation deal with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party on Thursday in Cairo.

According to the deal, the Palestinian consensus government would fully take over running the daily affairs in the Gaza Strip from the hands of Hamas.

"As a Palestinian citizen, my Prime Minister is Rami Hamdallah," said al-Hayyah, who stressed that Cairo agreement "was not new, but was a new Egyptian-sponsored round of dialogue that would lead to practical results".

Asked why Hamas had decided to dissolve the administrative committee of Gaza, which opened the door for a broader dialogue, he said: "Israel used the internal Palestinian division to destroy and end our national Palestinian cause."
Al-Hayyah also said that two joint committees had been formed - one for resolving the files of employees and the other one to implement the agreement.

"The consensus government will pay the salaries of the employees, either civil or security servants, who are still doing their job in the Gaza Strip," said al-Hayyah, adding "the government will be fully responsible for all financing issues".

"Hamas will pay salaries of the months of September and October while the government will pay full salaries for November."